Tim Mahoney Golf Blog

Tim Mahoney Golf Blog

One of the interesting concepts about the golf swing is the
position of the ball with-in your stance.
One school of thought mentions a ball position in the same spot and
another mentions a ball position that moves with the club. At the Mahoney and Troon Golf Academy we
believe that the ball position is the effect of the desired swing angle at the
ball and the golfers basic swing tendency.
Keep in mind our ultimate goal is to produce a solid strike every time a
golfers hits a shot. The ball position
is constantly being adjusted during a practice session or a round of golf.

The ball position is the effect of your desired impact
goals, swing tendencies and the design of the club. As the club length is varied and the club
head design is implemented the basic ball position will be adjusted as well. Shorter
irons with more loft the ball will be farther back in the stance and a wood
club with less loft and the shaft behind the ball will have a more forward ball
position.

The desired angle of approach of the club head at impact
will effect the ball position as well. A
short game shot that requires a significant amount of back spin and a steeper
angle of approach, the golf ball should be positioned back in your stance. A
driving club with a golfer’s objective of distance with ground speed requires a
shallow angle of approach or slightly upward, a forward ball position is
needed. All golfers need to keep in mind that the position of the ball at
set-up in relation to your feet and head will effect the angle the club
approaches the ball. Ball back-steep
angle and a ball forward shallows the angle.

During a round of golf the goal is to get the ball into the
hole in the lowest amount of attempts.
Your golf swing is constantly changing as your body and mind set changes
as well. If your swing path is too much
in to out, your golf club will bottom out behind the ball. This swing path will result in a ball position
farther back in your stance. A swing
path that is out to in will produce a swing bottom forward of the ball and a
more forward ball position. Golfers need
to adapt to the playing positions and your golf swing.

Lower scores are the effect of the golfer adapting to the
swing and conditions. Keep in mind that
the golf ball relationship within your stance is constantly moving and being
adjusted. A cemented position will
produce inconsistencies and an adjusted ball position will result in lower
scores.

As you watch golf on TV across all the different
professional tours, you will see different grips, postures, swing shapes and
ball flights. Regardless of the differences in all the unique swings, there is
one constant in all good ball strikers – they look identical at impact. Perfect
impact and your ball striking will improve.

Impact position consists of: a forward leaning shaft, hips
open to the target line, shoulders square to the target line, left wrist flat
and right wrist bent. Establish the
angles and plane during the backswing and maintain these angles at impact. Anticipation of the strike or an in-correct
mind-set will create impact misery and inconsistenctcy. Simply rehearsing impact or an isometric
exercise will assist you with your impact goals. Start at address and move into impact

A drill that will assist you with the motion of impact and
correct alignments is making small swings into an impact bag. Allow the power sources to accumulate on the
back swing and turn into impact. As the
club strikes the bag, note: a forward
leaned shaft, flat lead wrist, hips open and shoulders square.

All golf swings are different: upright, flat, close faced or
opened face. But all great ball strikers
are perfect at impact. Work on impact
and your scores will lower.